1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article of furniture. More particularly, it relates to a portable knockdown furniture item comprising interlocking sheet-like elements which are easily fabricated, easily assembled without special tools to form a stable and strong structure, and which are readily transportable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is replete with attempts throughout the centuries to provide a useful, reliable, and simple article of knockdown furniture such as a table, stool or stand which is easily fabricated, easily assembled and disassembled, and yet provides an attractive sturdy and strong structure suitable for its intended use. As exemplified in relevant prior art the challenge in meeting these design goals is to effectively balance them all. For example, simplicity in fabrication and assembly has often been sacrificed to achieve sufficient stability and strength.
General disadvantages with the current knockdown furniture includes furniture that is not stable, furniture that has a weak load capacity, furniture that is too difficult for a laymen to assemble, furniture that requires intricate and expensive fabrication, furniture that has too many pieces to assemble, furniture that requires too much time and too many steps to assemble, furniture that takes up too much storage or shipping space when disassembled, furniture that is too heavy, furniture that requires special tools or fastening means for assembly, furniture that does not provide sufficient table-surface capacity, and furniture that is unattractive.
Additional design criteria commonly considered is cost of fabrication and efficient use of material. Accordingly, attempts have been made to fabricate the components of a table from a single sheet of material while minimizing the amount scrap material produced. Where such attempts have been made, improvements can be made. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,235,290 and 3,705,556 each contemplate a table with one (1) table top cut from the table's own base members in order to produce a minimum amount of waste or scrap by utilizing the peripheral cuttings from the furniture's top member to construct the support members for the furniture article. Neither patent, however, contemplates or allows for an improved material-saving design, such as one with greater table-surface capacity efficiency, wherein multiple table tops are cut from the table's base members and tiered, providing as much table-surface capacity as a single-tiered table yet within a more confined horizontal space.
Thus despite all the knockdown furniture existing in prior art and particularly the material-saving table designs, an easily fabricated and assembled arrangement that consists of primarily flat pieces, and which can be hand-assembled in a few steps into a strong and sturdy multi-tiered furniture article with improved table-surface capacity efficiency would be highly desirable.